The UN General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau — as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, every member state of the UN has an obligation to honor the victims of the Nazi era and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides.
The Holocaust
Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazis attempted to annihilate all of Europe’s Jews. It is this event which we now refer to as The Holocaust or the Shoah, a variation on a Hebrew word.
The Nazis spread their hatred through the use of propaganda and legislation designed to deny human rights to Jews and used centuries of anti-semitism as their foundation. By the end of the Holocaust, 6 million Jewish men, women and children had been murdered in ghettos, mass-shootings, in concentration and extermination camps, and many millions more were affected by the Nazis’ extreme policies.
As soon as the Nazis came to power they introduced laws and legislation intended to deny Jews the freedom of movement, work and other basic rights. Boycotts of Jewish doctors, lawyers and shops began in 1933 and by 1935 Jews were not allowed to join the civil service or the army. The introduction of the Nuremberg laws in September 1935 further increased Jewish marginalisation. Jews were banned from marrying non-Jews and their citizenship was removed including their right to vote. As time progressed, more restrictions were brought in and Jews were barred from all professional occupations and Jewish children were prohibited from attending public schools. In 1938, further laws decreed that men must take the middle name ‘Israel’ and women ‘Sarah’, all German Jews would have their passports marked with a ‘J’.
On 9 November 1938 the Nazis initiated pogroms (an organised persecution of a particular group) against the Jews in all Nazi territories. It was a night of vandalism, violence and persecution that many have since described as ‘the beginning of the Holocaust’. 91 Jews were murdered, 30,000 were arrested and 191 synagogues were destroyed.
The Nazis murdered approximately 6 million Jews in a systemac state-sponsored campaign which atempted to wipe out European Jewry. By May 1945 close to two out of every three Jews in Europe had been murdered.
The Nazis hated anyone who did not fit their narrow idea of who or what was ‘normal’. Millions of lives were destroyed or changed beyond recognion due
to the things that made them different. The Nazis murdered Roma and Sin (Gypsy) men, women and children in their campaign to ‘combat the gypsy nuisance’ of Europe. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Political opponents such as Communists and Socialists, Trade Unionists and Freemasons, Black Germans, Gay men and Lesbians, and mentally or physically disabled people were persecuted, incarcerated and killed.